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Basic Geology
Basic Geology
The Earth - Overview
The Earth - Mechanisms
Rock Types
Deposition
Clastic rocks
Carbonate Rocks
Reservoir Rocks
Porosity
Permeability
Notes
JJ Consulting 1997
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The Earth
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The crust is not one solid skin on the mantle. It is broken into a number of
irregular plates. The plates can be large, the Pacific Plate, or relatively
small, some of the Mediterranean plates. The centres of the plates are
The Earth 2
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Plate Tectonics 1
The mantle is plastic. It flows in convection currents from the very hot
core to the outer Mantle/crust. These currents cause the crust to move. The
currents are continuous and are responsible for all the features on the
earth's surface.
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Compressional Features
Two types of features are caused by the movement of the plates. The first
set are compressional. Here two plates are pushed together. They can
create a zone of mountains or one plate can go under the other creating a
trench. Mountains are usually associated with trenching as well.
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On the other side of the currents tensional effects are found. Here the plate
is stretched out thin creating faults and rifts and eventually a new plate.
Both compressional and tensional features play a large role in the
structures of reservoirs.
Tensional Features
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Notes
Trench
Mountains
When an ocean plate meets another, one is
forced down creating a trench.
Volcanoes form at the junction.
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This is a typical trenching effect with the ocean plate being forced Down
under the continental plate. The latter is forced up into a mountain chain,
while there is a trench formed at the boundary.
An example of this type of feature is found on the western side of
Sumatra. The island has a range of volcanic mountains while offshore is a
deep trench.
The ocean plate is being driven by the creation of a mid-ocean ridge. A
good example of this types of feature is the Mid Atlantic Ridge which
stretches from Iceland to below Argentina.
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Continental - Continental
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Plates
This slide shows a number of the plates and other features of the Indian
Ocean. Several mid-ocean ridges are clearly visible delineating the edges
of the plates. The plates contain features such as basins and plateaus. the
latter are higher regions, some even forming island chains.
At the edges of the plates are features such as the Java trench, created
where the ocean plate moving east is going under the continental plate.
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The basins are close to continents and obtain the sediments from the
interior. A basin cannot be near the edge of a plate as any sediments
would be stirred making reservoir formation difficult.
Basins
The basin is where hydrocarbon reservoirs are
found.
A shallow sea in a quiet region of a tectonic plate
is required.
The sediments can build up and form rocks
without being disturbed.
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Current Basins
Current basins where reservoirs are forming are the Persian Gulf, the
North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Barrier Reef. All of these are
stable. The Mediterranean is not a basin although there are plenty of rivers
depositing sediment, it is unstable with numerous tectonic boundaries
running through it.
The geologist has to image the earth as it was millions of years ago to find
those ancient basins where reservoirs formed.
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The rocks forming the earths crust are broken down into three major
classes reflecting their origins.
Igneous coming from molten material of the mantle, sedimentary rocks
from sediments and metamorphic from the effects of heat and pressure of
both of the others.
Rocks General
There are three major classes of rock:
Igneous:
(e.g. Granite).
Sedimentary:
Notes
(e.g. Sandstone).
Metamorphic:
(e.g. Marble).
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Volcanic rocks are those seen immediately after a volcanic eruption. They
cool quickly resulting in an amorphous structure. They have no texture.
Plutonic rocks cool much slower as they come up from the Mantle and
stop much deeper inside the crust. They have a crystalline structure.
Continuing movements of the crust may bury the volcano and bring the
plutonic rock to a shallower depth or even surface.
Igneous Rocks
Comprise 95% of the Earth's crust.
Originated from the solidification of molten
material from deep inside the Earth.
There are two types:
Volcanic - glassy in texture due to fast cooling.
Plutonic - slow-cooling, crystalline rocks.
Notes
crystalline
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The effect of heat and pressure is to transform the rock into a new form. In
doing this it destroys all porosity and any hydrocarbon. Metamorphic
rocks do not exist in reservoirs.
Metamorphic Rocks
2) Metamorphic rocks
formed by the action of temperature
and/or pressure on sedimentary or igneous
rocks.
Examples are
Marble -
Hornfels -
Gneiss -
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Sedimentary Rocks
Sedimentary rocks are formed from the material of other rocks which
could be igneous, metamorphic or older sedimentary rocks. The
classification splits those rocks which form from materials transported
from one place to another - clastic rocks, from rocks which are created
from materials in their place of formation ; no transportation - non clastic
rocks.
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Depositional Environments
The depositional environment can be
Shallow or deep water.
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Depositional Environments 2
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Sediments deposited in deep water will form poor quality reservoir rocks
as the fine grains lead to poor permeability.
Depositional Environments 3
The depositional characteristics of the rocks lead
to some of their properties and that of the
reservoir itself.
The reservoir rock type clastic or non-clastic.
The type of porosity (especially in carbonates) is
determined by the environment plus subsequent
events.
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Diagenesis
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Rock Cycle
The start and end of all rocks is the magma in the mantle . This is cooled
to create igneous rocks. these can be broken down into sediments. The
sediments are turned into sedimentary rocks. These can be buried deeper
with heat and pressure, turning into metamorphic rocks. If these are then
heated we return to the magma. Inside this major cycle are subcycles.
Igneous rocks can be heated to give metamorphic rocks. Any rocks can be
broken into sediments to give sedimentary rocks.
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Clastic Rocks
Sands are a reservoir rock, while shales are a source rock and a cap rock. The shales are
very fine grained and although the can contain fluids this can only leak out in geological
time, very slowly.
Shales and silts also contain other minerals than Quartz. The sediments are buried to
create the sedimentary rock, initially filled with water.
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Deltas can have huge extents. There are also a large number of potential traps in this
environment, channels, bars and sheets of sands further out in the deeper water. hence the
delta is one of the most prolific hydrocarbon environments. They are also complex with
the structure ranging from shallow , shoreline to deep water.
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Ancient river beds below the current level can add up to a considerable
thickness.
The shape of a river/channel type deposition is often complicated, causing
problems for well placement.
Rivers
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Carbonates contain about half the worlds reserves in less than half of the reservoirs
mainly due to the super giant fields of the Middle East
Carbonates
Carbonates form a large proportion of all
sedimentary rocks.
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Limestones and dolomites are usually reservoir rocks. A very dense, low porosity
limestone can, occasionally, be a cap rock
. Dolomitisation is a very important mechanism as it not only creates porosity but
permeability paths vital to some reservoirs.
Carbonate types
Chalk reservoirs tend to have very high porosity and very low permeability.
Limestone
CaCO3
Dolomite
CaMg(CO3)2
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A reef is the simplest carbonate deposition, the skeletons of the reef animals.
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Depositional Environment
Carbonates
In the shallow lagoons, Calcium Carbonate is deposited. Shells and so on are added to
the mixture. Changes in sea level allow the deposition of salt or anhydrite as a seal.
Carbonate deposition is very complex as the rocks themselves have particle sizes
ranging from whole shells to line mud. The basic deposition is in shallow seas from
biological and chemical action. CaCo3 is soluble hence can be transported around as a
solute and then reprecipitated elsewhere.
In addition to the carbonates these environments also produce evaporites such as salt (
NaCl ) and anhydrite ( Ca So4 ) . Other rocks include pyrite ( FeS2 ) and siderite ( FeCo3
) and chert, microcrystalline quartz, the carbonate reservoir is hence very complex.
Lagoon
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Rock Properties
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Definition of Porosity
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Porosity Sandstones
The two packing models shown represent some of the possibilities .Cubic
packing , with a porosity in excess of 47% is the theoretical maximum
which is rarely reached.
These pictures are valid in a lot of cases as the sand sediments deposited
are often of uniform size and shape. The addition of smaller grains will
reduce the porosity.
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In a clastic rock the grain size ( same size grains ) does not affect the
porosity. Thus a sand, a silt and a shale can have the same porosity .The
differences come in permeability where the grain size has a direct effect,
large grains meaning higher permeability. This is the reason that a
universal porosity - permeability transform does not work; two rocks with
the same porosity but different grain sizes will not have the same
permeability. The saturation can occur even in the same sandstone
layer in a reservoir in a sequence where the grain size has changed during
deposition eg. a firing up sequence.
This implies that the silts and shales have porosity containing fluid. The
fluid is water as the pore size is so small that capillary forces prevent
hydrocarbon from entering.
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Sandstones can also contain fractures and vugs, however this is rarer than
in the carbonates. In the case of vugs the latter are soluble while sandstone
is not.
Carbonate Porosity
Intergranular porosity is called "primary
porosity".
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Fractures are classed as either being vertical or horizontal, although they can appear at
almost any angle. If they are vertical they can penetrate from an oil column down into the
water, and, as they have very high permeability, can cause production problems.
This set of porosities are not fabric selective, ie. they happen to the entire rock. Fractures
crack through any of the types of mineral or shell in the rock.
Fractures
Fractures are caused when a rigid rock is
strained beyond its elastic limit - it cracks.
The forces causing it to break are in a constant
direction, hence all the fractures are also
aligned.
Fractures are an important source of
permeability in low porosity carbonate
reservoirs.
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Vugs
The full definition of vugs is more complicated. They are irregular holes
in the rock. They have been caused by dissolution of shell (etc) fragments
and also some of the matrix surrounding them. They can vary widely in
size from a few microns to metres. In this context they are regarded as
being a centimetres at most. In most cases the vugs are not connected to
each other in any producible manner and hence do not contribute to the
formations productivity.
Carbonate rocks will frequently contain both vugs and fractures.
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Permeability Definition
The rate of flow of a liquid through a formation
depends on:
The pressure drop.
The viscosity of the fluid.
The permeability.
The pressure drop is a reservoir property.
The viscosity is a fluid property.
The permeability is a measure of the ease at
which a fluid can flow through a formation.
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Darcy Experiment
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Darcy Experiment 2
The flow rate increases with increasing pressure drop; it decreases with
increasing length ; it increases with increasing surface area; it decreases
with increasing viscosity. Putting this altogether gives an equation with
the unknown as the permeability, K.
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Darcy Law
Notes
K = permeability, in Darcies.
L = length of the section of rock, in centimetres.
Q = flow rate in centimetres3 / sec.
P1, P2 = pressures in bars.
A = surface area, in cm2.
= viscosity in centipoise.
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The flow rate through the large pore spaces is high hence the permeability
is high.
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The flow rate through the small grained rocks is low hence the
permeability is low. The formation contrasts with the one in the previous
slide; with the same porosity the permeabilities can differ dramatically.
The ultimate contrast is between a very fine grained shale with zero
permeability and a coarse sandstone with a high permeability.
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low
Vertical
permeability
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Reservoir Rocks
Reservoir rocks need two properties to be
successful:
Pore spaces able to retain hydrocarbon.
Permeability which allows the fluid to move.
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Clastic Reservoirs
Sandstone reservoirs account for the majority of the worlds fields. There
will always be bedding variations leading to differences in the quality of
the reservoirs. The porosity and permeability are relatively simple to
evaluate from core samples.
Fractures may be important in low porosity reservoirs.
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Carbonate Reservoirs
Carbonates normally have a very irregular
structure.
Porosity:
Determined by the type of shells, etc. and
by depositional and post-depositional
events (fracturing, leaching, etc.).
Permeability:
Determined by deposition and postdeposition events, fractures.
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The majority of cap rocks are shales as it is these rocks which are
normally present. Zero porosity carbonates not only form cap rocks but
barriers in the reservoir itself.
Cap Rock
A reservoir needs a cap rock.
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Source rocks are shale or siltstone. These sedimentary rocks form in the
deep ocean and have fine grains.
Source Rocks
Hydrocarbon originates from minute organisms
in seas and lakes. When they die, they sink to
the bottom where they form organic-rich
"muds" in fine sediments.
These "muds" are in a reducing environment or
"kitchen", which strips oxygen from the
sediments leaving hydrogen and carbon.
The sediments are compacted to form organicrich rocks with very low permeability.
The hydrocarbon can migrate very slowly to
nearby porous rocks, displacing the original
formation water.
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Temperature Window
The temperature at which the source rock has been cooked is important
to the viability of the reservoir. It is closely related to the depth at which
the rock was buried. As all this happened a long time in the past the
geologist has to track the history of the source rock.
Oil Formed
Gas Formed
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Temperature too high for
hydrocarbon formation
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Hydrocarbon Migration
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Rock Classification
Clastic rocks are classified initially by their grain size. There are many
more complex classifications for this type of rock but this is the simplest.
In this list Conglomerates and Sandstones are reservoir rocks, Siltstones
and Shales are source rocks and shales are also cap rocks.
Non- Clastics can be described by their chemical composition, there are,
once again many more complex descriptions. Here limestone and
Dolomite are reservoir rocks and Silt and Anhydrite are cap rocks.
Clastics
Rock type
Conglomerate
Sandstone
Siltstone
Shale
Non-Clastics
Rock type
Limestone
Dolomite
Salt
Anhydrite
Coal
Particle diameter
Pebbles
2 - 64mm
Sand
.06 - 2mm
Silt
.003 - .06mm
Clay
<.003mm
Notes
Composition
CaCO3
CaMg(CO3)2
NaCl
CaSO4
Carbon
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Reservoir Structure
There are many other types of structure.
The criteria for a structure is that it must have:
Closure, i.e. the fluids are unable to
escape.
Be large enough to be economical.
Notes
1300m
1400m
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In the major oil basins of the world it is often the case of series of
structures. Maps of the North Sea or Middle East clearly show the
reservoirs lined up as one structure has overflowed into the next.
Trap definitions
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Traps General
The key concepts are those of Net and Gross pay. Gross pay is always >
Net pay. This can also be described by the Net -to - Gross ratio which is
always less than or equal to one. The spill plane is the maximum level to
which this particular reservoir can filled before the next anticline starts to
be filled.
Closure: total
reservoir size
down to the spill
point
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Structural traps describe all the large features and includes domes,
anticlines and faults. These large scale reservoirs include most of the
Middle East giants.
Structural Traps
The simplest form of trap is a dome.
This is created by upward movement or folding
of underlying sediments.
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Fault Traps
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Stratigraphic Traps
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Salt in creating the domes also adds faults and fractures due to the express
pressures on the rocks. The traps around the dome are difficult to find as
anything below the Salt is invisible on the surface seismic. ( the contrast
between the salt and anything else is too large ).
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Most reservoir maps in the world use m.s.l. as the reference. Depths of
the layer increases away from the crest of the structure.
The reference is needed because the drilling rig can be on top of a
mountain or an offshore platform. In each case the measured depth of the
same layer is different as the drilling reference is different.
Reservoir Mapping
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Rock Ages
The vast majority of reservoirs fall into the middle era from about
300Myears to about 60Myears. This is because there has been enough
time for all the process to happen. If too much time has passed the
continuing tectonic movements will push the reservoir deep, destroying
the hydrocarbon or cracked it open or raised it to the surface allowing the
fluids to escape.
If not enough time has passed all the elements of the reservoir will not be
in place.
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Carbonates
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